A Radical Change: from Pride to Misery, from the Levant Company to the Foreign Office

In 1820 a British consular representation, albeit of a very limited kind, already existed in the Aegean. It had been set up by the Levant Company for the purpose of protecting its traders in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The consuls were merchants, chosen and elected by other merchants within the Company. The representation was confined to the commercial aspect of the British presence in the Levant and it worked very efficiently almost until the winding-up of the Company in 1825.